Remember that the current housing crises is the result of people who could not afford to pay for their mortgages. When you try to give the poor a helping hand they always fall back on old habits and shirk responsibilities. The liberal media would have you believe that it is the banking institutions themselves that are at fault for being blinded by greed, but seriously everyone knowsthat banks only have the interest of the common man at heart.

What Labruzzo and men of his ilk want people to believe is the lie that is preached in every single elementary school across the country; meritocracy. The streets are paved with gold, and if you work hard enough each person has an equal opportunity to succeed. If people are poor it is because they choose it and this is a choice that the government can no longer continue to support.

These suggested sterilizations encourage us to believe that parenting is not about the time and love that you invest in a child, but the money you have. A mother that sits and does homework with her child, reads bedtimes stories, and kisses boo boos is not bad because she cannot afford to pay the landlords extortionist rent. A woman is not a bad mother because she must find work in an economic system that says that her work is worth 77% of a mans. Poverty is the result of an economic system that continues to privilege the elite while declaring each failure an individual one rather than a systemic one.

This hypocrite leaves no doubt as to where his class allegiance lies. While advocating sterilization for the poor, he had no problem suggesting a legislative pay raise. It certainly is acceptable for a white male elite to gain from the government purse, but a poor woman was put on this earth to suffer and she should accept her role.

Labruzzo is living up to the legacy of his seat well. His riding is the same district that used to be represented by David Duke. The pupil has outstripped the sansei. We are to believe that there is no racial overtones to this suggested policy, when the government has a history of forced sterilizations of WOC? I wonder how much he sells swampland in Louisiana for? Racism is still a very big part in American society and therefore it would hubris to assume that it would not play a role in which bodies got sterilized.

Despite flashing the all American boy next door smile, Labruzzo's suggestions come from a place of true malice. He does not actually believe in ending social injustice or he would advocate for things like socialized daycare, education subsidies for single mothers, and more rent control. Labruzzo seeks to maintain white male elite privilege at any cost. I don't believe the lie of the post racial world ideology that we are being fed, but I certainly recognize race and class privilege when I see it.

36 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I believe that poor women should be offered FREE sterilizations if they desire (and I do think some women would find that desirable). The added compulsion of money stinks of blackmail and eugenics. Why not just give out free sterilizations and money to those in need with no strings attached?

My cousin (white working class male) was refused a vasectomy at the age of 27, even though he was married with two children, on the grounds he was "too young" and "might regret the decision".

He is either ill-informed or lying about his true motivations. If someone really wants to reduce the birth rates of a given group, the best way is through education and improved economic prosperity. History shows that high birth rates cannot possible survive those things.

However, this is another one of those posts where I agree with you on everything right up until you get into economics. Rent control, like all price ceilings, invariably has perverse effects that make everyone they were meant to help worse off in the long run, no matter how nice the idea sounds. Personally, I think the best way to implement a "prosperity floor" would be with a basic income, but if you limit the discussion to shelter, housing vouchers would be far more useful, since they would encourage the development of more, better housing, unlike rent controls, which encourage less, lower quality housing.

This article is well written.Many times people are disillusioned with allure of money and material possessions yet these things by themselves are not the true source of happiness but often contribute to much misery.Well written piece.Thanks

White fear? Naw, the stink of ignorance is all. Not necessary to put a color to ignorance. Nor even to put a color to poverty. But what a dope this guy is, huh? Does he think he has come up with a new bad idea? Laugh at him, Renee. Ok - scold him and condemn him first. But then laugh at his ignorance. :)

Hmmm . . . I'm white and middle class . . . something tells me that if I wanted a sterilization, he wouldn't offer me any money . . . oh, that's right, I've already inquired about getting sterilized (I am one of the women who does want one), and I've been told that I'm not eligible since I don't have any children, and I might regret the decision to not give birth!!

I think it's disgusting that poor women are being taken advantage of. And I also think it's disgusting that doctors think I don't know my own mind and secretly want kids. Women just can't win. If it's not racism and classism, it's patronizing attitudes (if not all three) . . . or something else . . .

When I first discovered this post last night on SU, I was kinda weary of how to react. Part of me saw this fool for what he really is... Nothing more than a butcher of the human race. And that was sticking in my craw because I felt more like his butchery was an affront to the entire human race itself, not just the female POC. Just the thought of even "promoting sterilization" from a government platform is wrong. Government is not a venue to be used to seek these types of implementation, of these types of ideas.

I am not a supporter of abortion, yet at the same time, I am not a supporter of government intervening, and taking a stand on that issue. I think part of being human is letting humans make their own choices, and take personal responsibility for them. If a woman chooses abortion or sterilization, that should be a discussion between her and her physician alone, no one else needs to be involved. Let those who choose one method be allowed to choose, and let those who choose another be allowed to choose as well, and let them chart the course of their destiny. It is their life, let them live it, we cannot get our two cents in, where it does not belong, no matter what the topic when it involves our very existence.

My only problem was the "Do you smell the stink of white fear?" remark. As many times that I see this author do battle against "Whiteness", I never seem to see a reinforcement that even though this whiteness is indeed a problem, and needs to be addressed, that people who are white are still human, and still breathe, eat, sleep, have children, love and laugh, cry and hurt.

When I said in another comment on another post that Renee needs to check her "White Hate", it is for that very reason I just described. Could it be that she is taking on some of the negative characteristics of those she is trying to dismantle?

If there is to be equality, if people of all colors, including us blank ones that have no color, and both genders need to be on an equal footing, don't we as readers need to be reassured that when you are talking about the "stink of white fear", that you haven't lost your respect for humans as a whole?

Can white people be wrong in their whiteness, but still be allowed to have the same basic human dignity that should be afforded to all humans irregardless of race or gender?

I would like continue to see the author take the stance of tearing down the walls of "ism's", but at the same time, reassure us that it is the walls themselves, and not the melatonin, or lack of, that should be hated.

I know folks get tired of me saying this, but hate, poverty, despair, and oppression are no respecter of persons, they can consume anyone, and anything that they can get their claws into...

When I think of people that stand out as heroes of equality, there are two that always come to mind...

The first...

"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools." -Martin Luther King Jr.

His opening word in the thought is "We". He makes no note of separatism. And in my own personal dissection of MLK's legacy, I always considered his primary core agenda as being the unification of human, by bringing the separate parts together as a whole, which is exemplified here...

"Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes." -Mahatma Gandhi

How powerful is that statement! Again, a reinforcement of my thought that personal responsibility needs to be taken by the whole of humanity. Let choices be made, and the us learn from them...

"Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress." -Mahatma Gandhi

This so applies to my being here. I told Renee once that I like her, and her writings very much, but at the same time I like to debate on issues we disagree on. I have thought on many things she has said, and last night was the first time that what she has written had set in! Instead of me jumping to post, I slept on it, and I am glad I did. I now can take a better shot at verbalizing my thoughts after taking the time to digest hers. She has moved me one step closer to seeing the need for my interaction in looking at "Whiteness" in a different light, then I had become accustomed to.

I think when it comes to tearing down the walls of separation, Mahatma Gandhi said it the best...

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."

I think Renee's posts are great, but at the same time, I would like to know from her that her core purpose is to remove my privilege, but let me keep my humanity...

"The good neighbor looks beyond the external accidents and discerns those inner qualities that make all men human and, therefore, brothers." -Martin Luther King Jr

@ Link Back Project: one white privilege is that we are so widely represented that sweeping statements do not act the same way as they do with other folks. Renee can write "do you smell the stink of white fear" and have it be clear that she is talking about one asshole and his supporters without having that reflect on the rest of us. White people cannot make these statements about people of color, because people of color are underrepresented. You see, Renee cannot possibly deny you your individuality and human dignity on this blog because it is reaffirmed everywhere else in society.

For everyone who thinks LaBruzzo's proposition is heinous (and frankly, can we call it an act of war?), we need to be aware of where it comes from:

Eugenics is informed by social darwinism, that is the valuing of certain traits over other traits, which is informed by essentialism, that is the believe that certain traits are inherent in certain populations.

Now it's easy for people to look at a eugenics proposal like this and be horrified, and that is the exact same horror that should be incited by even the least harmful instances of essentialism. Because the one leads to the other.

This is a perfect example of intersectionality, because we KNOW there is a relationship between race and class, and that said you cannot target poor women without knowing you are targeting a disproportionate amount of WOC.

Now, if I were a racist eugenicist (and there is NO other kind), I would be sterilizing men. Because think about it. Women can have one child every 1-2 years. Men can impregnate many women in that time, and then not be around to raise the child. So if they're really talking about this and expecting to be taken remotely seriously, they need to be talking about sterilizing men. But you know damn well that shit isn't gonna go down.

See even when they are on completely different sides of society, the rich white male politician is still looking out for the poor POC male.

@Jack... But when you look at where the link to that statement leads, (which Renee suggested I read before commenting.) you will see that your observation of "representation" is refuted by the author of the page linked to. Is it good that whites are moving towards a "minority status"? Yes, but only if that status finally leads to a level playing field for all mankind.

If it declines into a "payback" for all of the "whiteness", then both MLK, and Gandhi will still have to lead the way back home for all of us, when their thoughts were yet again ignored in the shift of power so to speak.

My purpose of calling Renee onto the carpet was not to think that my dignity and individuality could possibly be stripped from me by her, but to let her know that her words have more power over ME, when she assures us ALL that the changes that are happening to me, are taking place because the eventual result is individuality and dignity for ALL, once the goal is achieved.

Your observation that the sterilization of the male would be the most logical move towards genocide. Without the seed, no future plants can exist.

Could that train of thought be compared all the way back in time, to Herod's order of the killing of all male children in the Christian Bible?

Are these goals of genocide, ones that have repeated themselves throughout time, even to more contemporary leaders such as Hitler, Stalin, Saddam, Milosevic, etc... A problem with forgetting the past, and the need for the past to repeat itself, still trying to drive the point home that the individual cannot exist, only the unified whole?

And as for the "rich white politician looking out for the poor POC male", that is quite the gimmie! It is on his back that whiteness needs to use as a steppingstone to its class and race privilege...

You can't have power, unless you have someone to exert it over. So where is the solution? Is it removing the need for power over all mankind? Can there ever be a society where the good of the collective, can be managed by the collective, with no one voice standing above another? Is humanity ready for that yet, or are we still in the baby or youth stages of our maturity as a higher life form on this planet?

Maybe we need to see how we handle lower life forms, and the planets resources before we can be trusted with ourselves? Is that an answer that can also be implemented into the dismantling of whiteness, along with social injustice?

@Link Back Project: Sorry I did not click the link until you mentioned it. Whites may become a minority, but we have 400 years of racism institutionalized in this society, and those institutions will continue to benefit white folks long after they become a minority. How long? That's what Renee is referring to, those in power are scared of losing it. Labruzzo's actions can be seen in that light.

Now, I respect your desire to be seen in your wholeness, and as another white person on this journey I understand that you want to be respected before you will listen. I used to believe that also, but in my experience it really isn't necessary. Because unless we actively work to dismantle our cultural training, we ARE oppressors. POC have no reason to trust us, and we have to respect that. I've been friends with a number of militant POC, and believe me those are tenuous relationships where they struggle to trust me and I struggle to feel accepted. But this is what I learned: I don't need to be accepted, and they don't need to trust me. We do the best we can, and we rejoice when we find common ground. I'm in this struggle, and I'm dead serious about it, so time will tell. And I understand where the anti-white comments come from, because those friendships let me glimpse how pervasive otherness and marginalization are in the lives of POC. So you know what, I don't take it personally.

And neither do I... That is where I entered this subject back who knows how many posts ago.

But as long as a division between white and poc exists, what opinion do I have to offer, but one from a white POV?

If Renee is going to open dialogue on "Whiteness", then she includes the entire collection of those that lack melatonin.

Including me. That was, and still is my point. Everyone has to start somewhere, and for me, and those whites who have yet to begin the process of "hashing out" race, sex, and social class wars, there has to be a point of reference somewhere, to measure progress.

We all have to start somewhere, and this is the point I am quoting here...

"The dissenter is every human being at those moments of his life when he resigns momentarily from the herd and thinks for himself." -Archibald Macleish

I do not feel excluded. Rather, I must be part of any discussion on Whiteness just by virtue of being white. If she says... "the stink of white fear?" She has included all whites, there is no separation, no singling out of certain people. If she went with the link in the article linked to that quote, she could have said... "the stink of white fear in those that see themselves as the up and coming minority?"

Now that would have been addressed to those folks who hold that belief, which would exclude me, because I do not fear being the new minority, and it would have given me a much different platform to comment on. The link defines the statement, but as you said, you never noticed the link until I said something. Could other readers have missed the link as well? And then took the comment as a blanket generalization?

Hate begets hate. Reactionary, & militant tactics beget the same.

If the method of dismantling whiteness needs to be an eye for an eye to be accomplished, then myself and others will look at it as "payback", and that we must "conform", and you know as well as I do, that a sector of the white population will turn their backs on that approach, even if it means "By any means possible".

Look at what we see as whites...

"After looking at all the evidence there is only one conclusion: white people are devils…. I believe that we must secure our freedom and independence from these devils by any means necessary, including violence…. To protect ourselves we should bear arms (three handguns and two rifles, maybe an M-16) immediately and form a militia. …. So black people, let us unite, organize, and execute." [Chino Wilson, "African American Students Should Not Trust 'Devilish ' White People," The Daily Collegian, Penn State University, January 28, 1992.]

Is that conducive to educating whites? Yes, some folks go to extremes, but they are still squeaky wheels that get attention, so to get past that, there needs to be reassurance that extremism is not the way to go.

If extremism is the only answer, and no one is will to try peace and non-violence, then that tells me to be armed and prepared for when they come to the door, and drop them cold in a second... That kind of confrontational attitude needs to be addressed by both whites and POC. Just as white extremism needs to be addressed, and shown that those extremists have the wrong idea. I quoted MLK and Mahatma for those very reasons...

Education is the key, and love. Reactionary attitudes are good, but in moderation. There needs to be time to absorb what has been read. And as I said in the beginning, I see reactionary, but I don't see "education in love". Without that, I assure you I will never be convinced. As well as many others.

Okay, grammatically, you are just incorrect. "White fear" means fear displayed by white people, and it is no more specific than that. From context it is obvious that she is talking about the decision makers on this issue. I feel you are exaggerating a non-issue with clumsy semantic arguments.

The point of your quote seems to be that you are scared of black militants. You think you deserve to feel safe, so you say"...there needs to be reassurance that extremism is not the way to go."

Safety is a privilege. You are lucky to feel safe, you do not necessarily deserve it, and if black militants make you feel threatened, it is a renegotiation of power. If white people have all the guns, there is no fair exchange of dialog. I dare say MLK was as successful as he was precisely because he was operating in a time when black militants were doing more than asking to have their needs met. The institution worked with MLK partly because the militants scared them. The thought of militancy scares you, so you go on quoting MLK. It makes perfect sense.

We live in a country where police act as the fist of a racist institution. Many POC are threatened daily with violence. Yet you squirm just at the thought of an angry black person with a gun. You need to squirm to be serious about this, because for many POC it is already life or death.

But where is this talk of militancy coming from? Renee is a self-identified pacifist.

It is the media that propagates the race and social class wars. My talking about militancy was in reference to the old guard white people, the elderly, a large voting block. As well as the the whites that remain uninformed, and depend on the tv for their mindset. I myself fear no threat for two reasons...

#1. I am a Christian. I die, I shoot straight up to Heaven, I have everything to gain at the point of death that leads me to the Bema Judgment Seat of Christ.

#2. I am still a faulty, reactionary, human, that has been a staunch GOP/Southern Baptist lemming my entire life up until 4 years ago when I said enough is enough of the lies. But that half of me still exists, and says I fear nothing, because I and my neighbors out gun any hostile force that would dare assault the Northern New England area. Again, that brainwashed part of me still says... Cold at the door, one shot, close range, problem solved.

It is that crappy attitude that many white people still have because that has been bred into us by both politics and religion.

Am I wrong for thinking that way? Well of course! That is just silly, but will there be a lock and load if need be, of course, clean up the brass after the cleaning of the streets.

It is people like me who have just started to recognize that when we look in the mirror, we need to see what is really going on, and not just front like a pseudo-liberal, white apologist.

Let me be brutally honest for a second... Let me tell it like it is for many white people, let me drop any cover that might shield my true white self....

I was born to live and believe...

I am white, I will have pride in my race no matter what anyone says, I will defend myself and my family "By Any Means Necessary", and I will oppose using "Any Means Necessary" any white race traitor that would conspire to take away my right to pride in my fellow whites, and my right to defend family and home.

Does that sound familiar? Welcome to the Southern United States, where half of my bloodline resides, and have been there generational of the antebellum South.

Is that attitude bad? Honestly, yes. Is it real to me as I type it, yes. Do I feel a rage and a fear that can only be solved by violent defense of what I was born to believe? Yes.

But I am here being honest, I am here trying to make a change, I am here to better understand myself, other whites, and POC.

It is better than me simply walking out of here and saying... These folks are looking to destroy me and my family and friends, I need to remember to be vigilant.

So there needs to be a place to start. Somewhere there needs to be a first step. And I have to take it someday. But when I start steppin, folks are going to have to realize that I have to not only fight myself, but what has been ingrained in me as well.

Semantics? Maybe. But look through my eyes when I read the post. You might step a little higher above me, look down at me, and call yourself an "Enlightened White", but that just does more damage than good.

Why not say... "Look man, I was where you were at one day, we all were. You are going to have to take this one step at a time, just like anything else in life, you will have to work at it, wrestle with it, see it for what it really is, and what it has done to us all."

To expect Rome to be built in a day is silly. There will be hard times for whites that are learning about POC, and if that time needed to learn is unacceptable, then that is too bad, it will just cause us to give up and stay where we are at.

Where I am at now is very comfortable. For me to step outside of that is something hard to do. Like a newborn baby, we that are examining ourselves for the first time will need feeding, need burping, need our diapers changed until we can get to a point where we can tend for ourselves in the battle to end social, race, sex, and all the other wars.

Let me be honest yet again...

My first reaction to your last response was "I am through, I have better things to do. I am not interested in being a fake white apologist."

But what am I doing? I am opening up, telling you what is going on in my reality, staying here, and looking to see if I can take another step.

If that isn't going to work, if the agenda of POC is "Now or nothing", then you just lost me, and the majority of every other white that folks try to get the word out to.

There needs to be a "middle ground", a "transition period", where whites can remain safe while learning, but at the same time fear the unknown.

I prefer a more intellectual approach to debate. Feelings and emotions cloud my ability to dissect, and examine. That is one of my faults, something I am going to have to learn to adapt to.

Reactionary agenda simply causes myself and other whites to throw up a wall of defense, ergo that method might not be as effective as was hoped for. Why not moderation on all fronts? A little bit of fear, a little bit of learning, a little bit of self examination, a little bit of taking criticism, a little bit of rebuttal, to hash out where we could possibly be wrong, and what we can do together to change that.

I look to MLK and Gandhi in the hopes that the wars among each other do not need to be settled in the streets. Yes POC have problems, but guess what, so do whites. And until the day comes that ALL people start at a baseline of being human first, then deal with the outer problems that affect us ALL, there will be no true change.

Like it or not, Rome was not built in a day, either live with it or don't. Like it or not, whites have attitudes that are built inside of us that need us, as well as others to wash away.

The best thing I can do right now is to "Begin". All I have to offer is my first step, and if that is not good enough, then I have nothing else to offer, because I don't have anything to give at square one. How could I when I am at step one???

I am at the beginning of the road, take me or leave me. It is very easy to go back to being comfortable in the blink of an eye. And that is what I am trying to avoid, going backwards instead of forwards.

I suppose we are commenting this thread to death, but at the same time, maybe other whites might see the discussion, and take a moment to look at themselves, maybe someone at least might take step one. Can't hurt to discuss. But yes, I am sure other posts are going on, and this one is fading into the archives. LOL

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About Me

I am the mother of two darling little boys that fill my life with hope. They have inspired me to help raise awareness of the issues that plague this little blue planet.
If you are looking for a blog that is all about how wonderful and rosy this world is, turn right because this space will not be for you. I am a committed humanist. I believe in the value of people over commodities. I believe in the human right to food, clothing, shelter, and education. I am pacifist, anti-racist, WOC. My truth may not be your truth, but I intend to speak it nonetheless.
Please feel free to direct questions or commentary womanistmusings@gmail.com